PM to blame- Franklyn

Opposition Senator and trade unionist Caswell Franklyn has put the blame for the recent spike in coronavirus cases at the prison service at the feet of Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley.

During a press conference this morning, Franklyn told members of the media that Barbadians must not blame the Boxing Day bus crawl, but rather Prime Minister Mottley for allowing visitors with the coronavirus to enter the country, while other countries, including Caribbean islands, have put stringent travel restrictions in place on flights from Europe.

“This problem could have been avoided. I blame the Prime Minister and nobody else in Barbados for the state that we are in. What does the Prime Minister know that the countries in the European Union that banned flights from England, what does she know that they don’t know? What does she know that the Jamaicans don’t know because the Jamaicans also banned flights from England?

“Grenada and I think St Lucia banned flights from England, but Barbados is this all knowing smart people, and they brought these people here and the people were disobedient, they refused to follow the rules. I have members at hotels that tell me that the guests refuse to stay in their rooms saying that they didn’t come to Barbados to spend all of this money and they came out. I am not going to call the hotel’s name because I don’t want to call anybody’s name right now. But I have calls to that effect from some of my members in hotels,” he said.

Franklyn said he also issued a warning in the Senate some time ago, about prison officers “moonlighting” as bouncers in nightclubs. Franklyn said he strongly agrees that COVID-19 “came into the prison through those men who worked as bouncers in night clubs”.

“The bus crawl didn’t infect people, they infected the bus crawl. Prison authorities knew something was happening, but in Barbados, we like to shut down things. If prisoners could tell prison officers that there was coronavirus in the prison because they overheard officials speaking.

“The prison authorities knew what the prisoners overheard but they did not tell the staff, so they allowed it to go rampant throughout the prison. They could have avoided this. Don’t scapegoat the prison officers; don’t scapegoat the bus crawl,” Franklyn said.

Franklyn also indicated that for the first time on Friday evening he spoke to the organizer of the bus crawl who attempted to assure him that he had put measures in place to ensure COVID-19 protocols were followed.  He said Government must put its foot down and deal with public officers who continually lie to ministers. (anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb)